Always there
by AlyssaFelixa
Summary: Six-year-old Mikey learns a few lessons about brotherhood when he watches a scary movie. Cute one-shot. No flames please!


**This is my first chibi-fic, so bear with me. Something a bit like this happened to me once, and it just goes to show how great big brothers are… no matter HOW annoying they get.**

"It's MY turn to pick a channel!"

"No way, it's MY turn!"

Mikey rolled along the floor of the lair, hanging on to the TV remote for dear life. Raph had him in a headlock, but he was determined to choose something HE wanted to watch for once.

"Guys, break it up," Leo chipped in from the sofa, "I'm sick of watching grown-up stuff. Change the channel already."

"Yeah Mike," panted Raph, straining to reach the remote, "Gimme the remote, so's I can change the channel."

"I don't wanna watch wrestling!"

"And I don't wanna watch stupid Teletubbies!"

Mikey sat up and stared at his older brother. "You swore you weren't gonna tell!"

Raph used his brother's distraction to lunge for the remote. Mikey threw himself back to block his reach, his carapace thudding down on the remote. The TV screen flickered and changed channels.

"And coming up next on The Horror Channel, Attack of the Sludge Zombies! Certificate 18."

The four turtles spun around to gaze at the screen. "Coooooooooooooooooooooool" they breathed as one.

"I got dibs on the sofa!"

"No fair! You sat there last time!"

"Guys, there's room for _all_ of us on the sofa."

"I like puttin' my feet up!

"SSSH! I can't hear the creepy music!"

"Mikey, you think _The Simpsons_ has creepy music."

"It does!"

"My sons." The brothers jumped and turned to Splinter, standing behind them. "Do you really think you should be watching this?"

The siblings looked at each other as they struggled to find an answer. Finally, Leo spoke.

"Y-yes sensei!"

"And why is that?"

"Because it's educational, sensei," threw in Donnie.

"Yeah!" cried Raph, catching on. "It's all about fightin' monsters, so we'll learn loads!"

"Michelangelo."

Mikey struggled to tear his eyes away from the screen. "Wha- I mean, yes, sensei?"

"Will you be frightened by this program?"

His brothers sniggered.

"No, sensei!" Mikey puffed out his chest. "I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Hmm." Splinter paused, considering. "Very well then." He turned and walked away. _Perhaps they _will_ learn from this experience, _he thought to himself.

On the sofa, the four turtles breathed a sigh of relief, and settled down to watch the film.

&&&

Mikey lay curled into a tiny, trembling ball underneath his blankets. He was too big now to pull himself into his shell, but that didn't stop him from trying. At the slightest sound, he would freeze, listening hard for a zombie's slow, shuffling footsteps. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of slight sounds in the sewer.

_A zombie's gonna get me, a zombie's gonna get me, a zombie's gonna get me…_

Mikey gave a little whimper. Why had he even watched that _stupid _movie anyway? He could almost see a horde of undead plodding into the room, could feel the touch of rotting fingers, could hear their soft, sluggish footsteps.

Hang on.

He really _could_ hear footsteps! Something was creeping up to him in the dark.

A fat tear spilled out of one of Mikey's bright blue eyes and slid down his cheek. The zombie was going to eat his brains and turn _him _into a zombie, and he would never see his sensei or his brothers ever again…

An icy cold hand grabbed his arm. Mikey sat up with a scream, but the zombie clamped his other hand over his mouth, stifling him. He could just make out the zombie's head, leaning in towards him. Mikey shut his eyes tight, trembling. _I hope having my brains eaten won't hurt too much._ He sensed the zombie moving closer…

"Mikey, ya bonehead," whispered the zombie, "What's wrong?"

"Whu- _Raphie?" _ Mikey flung his arms around his big brother in relief.

"Hey, get offa me!"

"I th-thought you were a zo-ombie!" sobbed Mikey.

"Yeah, well keep it down, you're gonna wake-

"Guys, what's going on?" Mikey's light blinked on. Lifting a hand to shield his eyes, he spotted Leo and Donnie in his doorway.

"Mikey's scared of the zombies." said Raph, in a gentler tone.

"I'm n-not s-scared." mumbled Mikey, attempting to wipe away his tears."

"Of course not," said Leo gently, "But you know, it'd be okay if you were. _I'm_ scared of them."

Mikey stared at his oldest brother in astonishment. "You are?"

"Well, yeah," piped up Donnie, "They _are_ scary. But do you know something? Zombies don't exist!"

"Um… I knew that."

Mikey's brothers exchanged knowing looks and smiled at each other.

"Well in that case, we'd better get back to bed." said Leo, flicking off the light. Mikey sat up in horror as his brothers turned to leave.

"Night bro."

"G'night, Mikey."

"Don't go!"

Raph stopped in the doorway, the darkness hiding his smile. "I thought ya weren't scared?"

Mikey swallowed. "I… I'm not."

"Then go back ter sleep. Night." Raph quietly closed the door. "Don't let the zombies bite."

Mikey listened to the sound of Raph chuckling as he walked away. _It's cool. I can sleep. I don't have to think about zombies. I'll think about pizza instead. _He snuggled down, tucking his head under the blankets._ I like pepperoni best, especially when sensei lets me eat it with peanut butter. Hey, it worked! I stopped thinking about zombies… oops. Great, now I'm scared AND hungry._

Mikey curled into a tiny ball. _Relax, dude. Donnie said zombies aren't real._ A thought struck him, and he froze. _Donnie also said the Teletubbies aren't real. And I KNOW he was wrong about that… so maybe he's wrong about zombies too. _He began to tremble again.

The entire sewer seemed to have fallen eerily quiet. The only sound was the distant _drip…drip…drip… _of a faraway pipe.

Mikey hugged himself. _Why'd I let my bro's leave? I know I'm being a baby, but who wouldn't be scared of a zombie? _He swallowed. _I mean, they're all slow and creepy, and they have loadsa blood coming out of them, and holy fudgesicles I can HEAR ONE COMING!_

From the space outside Mikey's room came a funny shuffling sound, like something being dragged across the floor. Several somethings, to be precise.

_Oh cheese puffs, it really IS zombies this time! _Mikey clutched despairingly at his pillow. _I wonder what they're_ _dragging around…_ Suddenly his tear-filled eyes snapped open._ The zombies must have gotten my bros after they came to see me! I've gotta do something!_

Mikey quickly sat up and wriggled out of the heaped mountain of all his blankets. The sewers were often cold at night, especially for a reptile, so he and his brothers always slept with several covers. _I'm coming guys!_ He yanked his foot free and almost toppled out of bed.

_I gotta keep quiet and take the zombies by surprise, awesome-ninja-style. _Mikey tiptoed across his bedroom floor, stepping over discarded baseball cards and sweet wrappers, crept to his door, inched it open and…

"Hi-ya!" Mikey jumped, and launched a high kick into the dark silhouettes of the zombies. To his horror, the zombies ducked and grabbed him by the ankles as he flew past them. Mikey fell to the floor and landed on his shell with a thud.

"Mikey, what the shell are you doing?" whispered one of them.

"Whu…" Mikey stared up at the three dark shapes in front of him. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he realised the "zombies" were in fact… his brothers. Again. "Guys! I thought the zombies had got you!"

His brothers paused and looked down at him.

"Mikey," said Leo, "when we first got washed into the sewers, did you land on your head?"

Mikey scratched his bald head. "But then… what were you dragging around? Don't tell me you wanted a midnight snack, 'cause those things sound _way _too heavy to be pizzas."

"They're blankets," said Don, holding up his bundle, "We thought we could stay in your room tonight, since you're apparently not scared."

"Yeah, an' we'd just decided ter come over her when you came out and went all Dawn of the Dead on us." added Raph.

Mikey hung his head. "Oops… Sorry, guys."

"Wait – thought the zombies had gotten us?" Leo asked.

Mikey nodded.

"And you were going to face the zombies and rescue us?"

Mikey nodded again.

"Wow." Leo looked impressed. "That's pretty brave."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I wouldn't had the guts to do that!"

Raph yawned. "Look, can we skip the speeches an' get ter bed? There's pro wrestlin' on in the mornin', I don't wanna miss it!"

Mikey smiled. "Yeah, okay bro."

The four brothers filed back into Mikey's room. Mikey sat back, and watched the shadowy forms of his siblings sorting out their blankets.

"Ya know somethin' bro?" Raph whispered.

"What?"  
"Even if there were zombies, they wouldn't attack ya."  
"What? Why not?"

"Well, zombie's eat brains, don't they?" Mikey could just make out Raph grinning in the darkness. "So any zombie that went for you would go hungry."

"Yeah," Leo laughed, "They'd probably go for Don instead."

"Would not!"

Mikey giggled. "Thanks guys. 'Night."

"Night, bone-head."

"Night."  
"G'night."

For a moment Mikey lay still, listening to his siblings breathing. Then Donnie's trembling voice piped up.

"Guys, d-do you really think the zombies would c-come for me?"

&&&

Splinter stood outside Mikey's bedroom, listening to the sound of his son's laughter._ Well, it seems my sons _have _learned a lesson – to always be there for each other. _A smile crept across the old rat's face. He turned, and silently padded back to bed.

**Thanks for reading!**

**X A  
X F**


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